- Rubens Barrichello took a popular first win of the year after leading almost the entire race and cruising to victory after the Ferrari's held station in the closing laps. With pole sitter Montoya and recent form driver David Coulthard retiring, the dominant Ferrari team extended their championship advantage

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Rubens Barrichello made up for having to move over at the Austrian Grand Prix, leading virtually the entire race, with victory guaranteed when Michael Schumacher was ordered to keep station in the closing laps. Ferrari's two stop strategy gave them a big advantage over the single-stopping Williams's and McLaren's, allowing the Ferrari's to storm into the lead and build up an early advantage. Barrichello made an excellent start, taking the lead from Ralf Schumacher at the Dunlop curve to finish the first lap at the head of the field. Michael Schumacher meanwhile snatched third spot from Montoya at the Veedol Chicane on the opening lap, deposing of brother Ralf on lap 3 and closing in on Rubens' Ferrari. On lap 25, as the Ferrari's prepared for their first pit stop, Michael spun at the RTL curve while pressurising Rubens for the lead. This handed Barrichello an advantage he held until the second round of stops, after Michael dived in first he got caught up in traffic, allowing Rubens to retain his lead. With half an eye towards the FIA hearing on Wednesday, the Ferrari pair held position and ran virtually nose to tail to the flag. Behind the dominant Ferrari's the Williams' were struggling on their Michelin's, David Coulthard and Kimi Raikkonen hunting down the Williams of Juan Pablo Montoya. As Coulthard pressurised Montoya it ended in tears as a brave manoever around the outside by the McLaren driver saw Montoya spin while trying to hold onto his place, clipping the McLaren and forcing both drivers out on the spot. This left Raikkonen a clear run on Ralf, who could barely keep his car on the road, and with the McLarens working better on Michelins than the Williams', when Ralf pitted, Raikkonen was through and able to carry on to take the final podium slot. Ralf eventually trailed in a distant fourth, Jenson Button took fifth and his first points since San Marino, while Fellipe Massa held off his team mate Nick Heidfeld and Jarno Trulli's Renault to claim the last point.

The Williams-BMW's of Juan Pablo Montoya and Ralf Schumacher dominated qualifying at the newly revised Nurburgring track, with the Colombian driver eventually taking his third consecutive pole position on his second run, 45 minutes into the session, squeezing into pole position by less that 1/1000th second. Ralf Schumacher lined up alongside him, leaving the Ferrari's of Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello to occupy the second row of the grid, ahead of the McLaren pair on row three and the Renaults on row four. Michael Schumacher had a difficult session. On his opening run he came straight back into the pits at the end of his out lap with the gearbox stuck in gear. Changing to the spare car which had not been set up he was way off the pace on his second run. Quickly making changes to the Ferrari he jumped onto the first row of the grid alongside brother Ralf on his third run, until Montoya's flying lap saw him demoted to third spot a few minutes later. Coming out in the final seconds on his last run he was 0.2 seconds up on Montoya after the second sector, but an error in the chicane saw him unable to improve his time and he stayed on the second row of the grid.